The Japanese authorities on Monday honored former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was gunned down Friday within the western metropolis of Nara, with the Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, the nation’s highest ornament.
A wake was held later Monday for Abe, the longest-serving chief, at Zojoji Temple in Tokyo, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and different lawmakers attending. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who’s on a go to to Japan, additionally attended the ceremony, a Treasury official mentioned.
An image of the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is positioned on a stand at Zojoji Temple in Tokyo on July 11, 2022. (Kyodo)
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako despatched flowers and dispatched a chamberlain to burn incense on the wake, based on Kenji Ikeda, vice grand steward of the Imperial Family Company.
A complete of about 2,500 folks, together with members of the general public, attended the wake, based on the Liberal Democratic Get together faction headed by Abe. Amongst these seen on the wake had been outstanding enterprise leaders and ambassadors, together with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin.
Abe is the fourth former prime minister to obtain the ornament beneath the postwar Structure, after Shigeru Yoshida, Eisaku Sato and Yasuhiro Nakasone, and has moreover been honored with the Junior First Rank of Courtroom, the Cupboard Workplace mentioned.
Ikeda mentioned at a press convention that he suspects the imperial couple could also be feeling extraordinarily sorry and heartbroken about Abe’s loss of life, and anxious in regards to the bereaved household.
Abe was in workplace when the emperor ascended the throne in 2019 following his father Emperor Akihito’s abdication.
The Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum is comprised of pure gold and is worn by the Japanese emperor. It has been awarded to a number of visiting overseas heads of state up to now.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (entrance) visits Zojoji temple in Tokyo on July 11, 2022, to attend an evening vigil for the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Kyodo)
Abe’s funeral is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon on the Tokyo temple. Separate memorial providers will later be held in Tokyo and Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Japan, the place Abe had a constituency.
In the meantime, former U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly mentioned he’s contemplating attending a funeral for his one-time Japanese counterpart.
Trump informed the U.S. on-line information website Breitbart that he was in talks with the Abe household in regards to the go to, including the previous prime minister was the primary overseas chief to satisfy him after he gained the U.S. presidential election in 2016.
“He got here proper after the election — he was the primary individual I noticed” as president-elect, Trump mentioned, based on Breitbart. “However we had a particular relationship. We will see about that, we’re speaking about that proper now.”
Chief Cupboard Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno mentioned that on the request of Kishida, the Japanese flag will likely be flown at half-mast for Abe till Tuesday on the prime minister’s workplace in Tokyo.
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The Japanese flag flies at half workers on the Japanese prime minister’s workplace constructing in Tokyo on July 11, 2022, following the deadly capturing of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Kyodo)
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